Restaurant recommendations in Washington, DC, and other great travel destinations for vegetarians who don't want to be treated like second-class citizens. This website highlights first-class restaurants where you can dine and not leave hungry!

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Sunday, March 24, 2013

DC Spotlight: Spanish Tapas in Every Neighborhood

Like most places that specialize in small plates, Spanish tapas restaurants are excellent for vegetarians because they allow diners to piece together a meat-free meal while also sampling a number of different dishes. Fortunately, DC has more than its fair share of Spanish tapas restaurants. In fact, almost every neighborhood has one!I previously reviewed my favorite of them all, Estadio, which is located in Logan Circle. Estadio is my favorite because it offers (upon request) a separate vegetarian menu, and because the quality of the food, wine, and service is consistently excellent. But it's also very popular, and if you don't get there early, you may have to wait for a table. So, if you don't have a lot of time, you might want to head to one of the other first-class restaurants mentioned below, where it will be much easier to get a reservation or simply walk-in, depending on the night of the week. The vegetarian options at these places are all very similar, and also very delicious. At each place, I usually start my meal with an order of marinated olives and some bread topped with fresh tomato and Manchego cheese. I then move on to some sort of grilled vegetable or sauteed mushroom dish. My last two tapas are usually something heartier, like Spanish tortilla (egg omelet with potato and onion) or spicy potatoes. I also always look for sources of protein, like meat-free dishes made with lentils or chickpeas.If you're headed to Georgetown, check out Bodega. This place has an authentic Spanish feel (which is obvious from its website) and is located right in the heart of a historic DC neighborhood.

Marinated olives at Bodega

Green beans with almonds, garlic, and sweet red pepper at Bodega

Spanish tortilla at Bodega

If you're downtown, I recommend Jaleo in Penn Quarter, which is great for lunch as well as dinner. Jaleo is Chef Jose Andres's first American restaurant. As you can read here and here, I am big fan of his restaurants, which are all vegetarian-friendly.
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Pulpo in Cleveland Park is relatively new, but I was impressed by my first visit. The menu combines Spanish tapas with modern American, Latin American, and European flavors. I stuck with the traditional Spanish dishes.

Garlic mushrooms at Pulpo

Bread topped with fresh tomato and Manchego cheese at Pulpo

Finally, if you want something much, much more upscale (read: expensive), check out Taberna del Alabardero, which also offers a separate vegetarian menu. I will review Taberna del Alabardero separately at some point in the near future because it deserves its own post. All of the places mentioned above are listed on the Washington, DC Restaurants page of this website. Two additional Spanish tapas restaurants (which I have not included on the static list, mainly because I have grown intolerant of the noise levels at these places) are La Tasca in Chinatown and Boqueria in Farragut North. The former is a local chain and offers numerous vegetarian options. The latter is an NYC offshoot. TIP: If you're actually traveling to Spain, check out my Barcelona post here.